A threshing session concerned with the morality of tax support for the arms
race was held by the University Meeting. At that session it was revealed that
some Friends still see the balance of terror as the only alternative to the
repressive advance of Communism. They are caught in a bind between their
revulsion to their complicity with the war machine and their fear of the
repressive attributes of the Soviet power structure and the consequences of
our failure to deter it.

It would be un-Quakerly and unkind to suggest that these excellent people take
this position to avoid facing the uncomfortable issue of their complicity
with the mutually assured destruction posture of their government. We must
suppose that they have an inadequate knowledge of the theory of non-violent
struggle.…

Quakers are understandably deeply concerned about the enormous amounts of
money they contribute to the war machine and to the development of ever more
abominable means of extermination, and they would like to withdraw their
support if there were only some comfortable means of doing so. If thee were
only a law that would allow us to pay our taxes according to our
religion — but since it is a matter of violating the law or violating our
religion, most Quakers feel more comfortable violating their religion.

In a society so devoted to comfort, it is not surprising that Quakers, except
for a few mavericks, have managed to remain law abiding through the Vietnamese
war and through the development of the nuclear arsenal to its present level of
civilization-destroying capability. And there is little hope that they will
not remain law abiding until the world becomes a radioactive wasteland.

Perhaps the most telling repudiation of the theory of non-violent civil
disobedience as an alternative to war is that even Quakers in the present
moral extremity remain civilly obedient.

We haled non-violent action through civil disobedience as an excellent method
for winning independence for India or for winning civil rights for black
people; but so far as most Quakers are concerned things are not yet desperate
enough to try to stop the arms race by responding to the Spirit and breaking
the law.

Meeting approved a minute of concern that members be encouraged to consider
seriously the refusal to pay war and military taxes, or that part of their
taxes which their conscience dictates, and to consider placing these funds in
an escrow account. Further, that members encourage and support war-tax
resisters with spiritual, emotional, and financial support and that we examine
our fear of excessive government intervention in our lives which hinders our
ability to act upon our moral decisions. Friends were also urged to support
and actively work for the World Peace Tax Fund.

In April 1981, a group of Boulder Friends met
seeking constructive ways to promote peace and to address the shift of
government funding from human services to military programs. We were
particularly concerned with the large percentage of our tax dollars that we
were personally paying for war preparation.

Initially we considered two courses of action: (1) symbolic, illegal refusal
of military taxes, and (2) creating legal tax shelters. While some individuals
as a matter of conscience are pursuing a course of tax resistance, as a group
we felt that our energy should focus first on constructive action, developing
a method to legally divert our tax dollars from military uses. Our goals were
to minimize individual tax contributions to the military and to involve our
Meeting more deeply in an expanded peace witness.

After considering numerous options, we found the idea of augmenting the work
of the Meeting by employing a staff person especially attractive. Current tax
laws mean that the federal government effectively subsidizes gifts to the
Meeting by those who itemize deductions. For example, for a person in a 30%
tax bracket, a $100 contribution to the Meeting means $30 less tax due. So the
taxpayer is giving $70 of her/his own money and $30 is coming from money
which would otherwise have gone to the
IRS.
(Beginning in 1982 every taxpayer will be able to
deduct at least a portion of such contributions.) This approach also enables
Friends with larger incomes to divert money to a person in a lower tax bracket
and frees this person to devote energy to vitally important community service.

The April 1982 edition noted
that the Walla Walla Meeting had also established an “Account for Undesignated
Special Projects” as a way for people with war tax concerns to more easily take
advantage of a tax deduction for charitable donations.

The March 1984 issue included a note
about an unnamed Australian Quaker to that country’s Commissioner for Taxes
“explaining why the writer intends to divert the percentage of income tax which
would be applied to defense projects, either to a Peace Trust set up by the
Australian government, or to some other suitable institution, such as a Peace
Research Institute.” That issue also gave an update
on the Pacific Yearly Meeting’s “alternative fund for war taxes not paid to
IRS”
which had thus far collected over $3,000.

A brief in the January/February 1967
issue noted that the “San Fernando meeting has decided not to pay 70% of the
meeting house telephone bill tax, the portion that goes for war activities.” A
similar note
in the January 1983 issue read: “Santa Monica
Meeting has refused payment of the Federal Excise Tax on telephone service, a
tax ‘long associated with war expenditures, beginning with the War Revenues Act
of 1914… our financial support of armed conflict
would be unconscionable… We are also aware of our obligation to our fellow
citizens and do not take this step lightly.’”

I got another letter from the
IRS while
I was away last month (it was certified and so I had to go down to the post
office and sign for it). Nothing too exciting, just the usual “notice of intent
to levy” they send out every year after I send in my tax return without a check
to cover the taxes due.

Find Out More!

For more information on the topic or topics below (organized as “topic →
subtopic →
sub-subtopic”), click on any of the ♦ symbols to see other pages on this site that cover the topic. Or browse the site’s topic index at the “Outline” page.